Council of Ministers: preliminary meeting on Monday; AI and the Court of Auditors among the 13 items on the agenda

Three bills complete the part of the package that will still have to go through the full parliamentary process.

The first is the 2026 European Delegation Act, under which the Government requests from Parliament the powers necessary to transpose European directives and implement other EU acts.

The second proposal concerns the administrative liability of legal persons and aims to revise Legislative Decree No. 231 of 8 June 2001. This legislation sets out the circumstances in which a company may be held liable for offences committed in its interest or for its benefit. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for this dossier.

The third bill contains provisions to strengthen and adapt the country’s defence capabilities. The bill comes at a time when military spending continues to be a key issue in the European debate.

The political core of the package lies in the nine legislative decrees, through which the Government exercises powers already approved by Parliament.

Two of these concern the alignment of Italian law with European Regulation 2024/1689 of 13 June 2024, the AI Act. This is the most politically sensitive issue for Palazzo Chigi: artificial intelligence is being integrated into the work of law enforcement agencies, into training and into the oversight mechanisms entrusted to national authorities.

The first decree regulates the use of artificial intelligence systems in policing and the civil and criminal liability associated with their use.

The second, on the other hand, addresses the powers of the national authorities responsible for overseeing artificial intelligence and the use of AI.

The measures under final consideration are rounded off by the decree on the organisation of the tax courts, drawn up by the Ministry of the Economy. The text makes changes to the system responsible for resolving disputes between taxpayers and the tax authorities, as previously reported in recent months by Il Sole 24 Ore.

Five legislative decrees, however, are still at the preliminary review stage.

Among these, the reorganisation and restructuring of the functions of the Court of Auditors – as provided for in Article 3(1) of Law No. 1 of 7 January 2026 – stand out. This is the other politically sensitive issue for Meloni: the reform affects the body that oversees public spending and carries out audit and accounting oversight functions.

Another decree transposes European Directive 2024/2841 of 23 October 2024, which establishes the European Disability Charter and the European parking card for people with disabilities.

The Ministry of Justice has also introduced the decree implementing European Directive 2024/2853, also dated 23 October 2024, on liability for damage caused by defective products.

Also on the agenda is the implementation of Article 2 of European Directive 2025/516 of 11 March 2025, which amends the common rules on VAT set out in Directive 2006/112/EC.

Rounding off the set of five draft texts is the decree implementing European Directive 2024/2881 of 23 October 2024 on ambient air quality, drawn up by the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security. The measure aims to bring national legislation into line with European standards for cleaner air.